



/ 





[10 pp. 

SPEECE 



or 



HON. GAEL SCHUEZ, 



OF MLSSOrRI, 



AT 



INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, JULY 20. 1880. 



Felloav-citizexs. : In response to the invitation with which a large number 
of citizens of Indianapolis have honored me, I shall speak to you only on a few 
of the questions which will be discussed in the present contest ; on those, I 
mean, which come directly home to you. I shall address myself to the con- 
servative business men of the country, whose interest in politics is only that 
of the public good. 

I shall ai>peal not to your passions, but to your reason, and without any resort 
to the artiJi€es of oratory, give you a plain practical talk. The language of 
partv warfare is apt to fly to violent exaggerations for the purpose of i)roducing 
strong impressions ; the language of reason and common sense will abstain 
from them. Let me say at the outset, therefore, that I do not agree with those 
who speak of the present moment as tlie greatest crisis in the history of Amer- 
ican affairs. Tlie questions we have to dispose of are not those of immediate 
life or death ; but the bearing thev have upon the future welfare of the nation, 
and upon those interests which most nearly affect us, is important enough to 
make us consider well Avhat we are doing, to call for our best judgment and a 
strenuous effort to put that judgment iiito execution. 

"WHAT WE W.VXT. 

In the first place let us make it clear to our own minds what we want. Tlie 
answer is, in a general term, that we want a good government ; that if we have 
it we must endeavor to keep it. and that if we have it not we must endeavor to 
get it. What is good government V We may answer again in general terms, 
that it is a government whieli well understands the public business, and 
understanding it. transacts it within the limits of its constitutional power, in- 
telligentlv, houestlv. and justlv. Tlie second question we have to answer to 
ourselves is. liow far the Government we have comes up to these requisites, 
how far the principles upon which it acts, the methods it employs, the aims it 
pursues, and the degree of efficiency it develops, answer the public need, and 
how far in this respect we ought to preserve what we have or look for other tilings 
we have not. 

THE JIAXXEU rx AVIIICII THIS ADMIXISTRATION' UAS CONDUCTED THE PL'DLIC 

BUSINESS. 

As a member of the present administration now on t!i9 point of yielding its 
power into the hands of a new set of public servants. I may l)e permitted to 
appeal to the candid judgment of the American people as to the manner in 
which the public business has been conducted during these last years. While 
it-might be natural that, bearing a part of the responsibility myself, I should 
be incline.l to take a favorable view of its performances, still I feel that my 
wavs of thinking are independent enough not to betray me into mere partisan 
eulogy, and that we mav confidentlv relv upon the judgment frequently ex- 
pressed, not onlv by our friends, but also by very many candid men among our 
opponents. As a matter of course I do not expect Democratic politicians and 
orators to give us that fairness of judgment in the heat of an election contest 
which they could not denv us during the repose of a previ.nis period, and which 
thev will not denv us when this contest is over ; for it is a common experi- 
ence that partisanspirit will, under the excitement of the campaign. call a man 
a villain to-dav whose worth was recognized yesterday, and whose merit will 
again be admitted to-morrow. I think I am not exaggerating when I say that 
the fair-minded men of this countrv wdl admit, and do admit in their hearts to- 
dav, that on the whole the public lousiness has l)een conducted l)y this admin- 
istration, as far as it was in its control, honestly, intelligently, and success- 






fully. I shoulil l»e the last mnn to claim perfection for it. for as one of those 
wlin ha I an opportiKiity to watclj affairs in detail, I a-a well aware of errors 
committed and of fa.lures suffer e< I in tliis and that re-pect. No administra- 
tion of government ever has been or ever will l>e free from them ; and with 
respect to them I claiui no larger nieas'ire of charity tlian would be tdaimetl 
by any memlxn* of a ffovernraent acting upon correct m(jtive>; of duty, and 
willing to have tlie acLs and the general success of tht* administration impar- 
tially judged as a whole. It has maintained the public faith an«l raised the 
credit of the United States to a point never reached bi'foiv. It has with con- 
sistent energy followed a i)olicy relieving the coinitry of tlie evils of an irra- 
tional antl dangerous money system, and greatly itromote 1 the prosperity of the 
people by the lestoration of specie payments. It lias finuled enormous iwasses 
of tlie national indebtedness at a lower interest, and thus s;ived many millions 
a year to the tax-payer. It lias faithfully execnteil the laws with a conscien- 
tious observance of sound constitutional principles. By its fidelity to tliese 
constitutional principles it has removed m inv ob.4-:icles which sloo 1 in the way 
of a frieu lly un lerstauding b;^tween the diifere it sections of the cointry and 
difft'rent cla.sses of jjeo )lv. It h;is, under trying circumstances, when the pub- 
lic peace w;is disturbed by riot and vi ilence en the part of a numt^rous cjjiss 
of citizens, greatly aide 1 the restoration of order and security bv a c.ilm and 
moderate euiployment of t'.ie limiteil power at its command, without in any 
case resorting to a do ibtf id stretch of authority. It has reformed many abuses 
in the public service, infused a higher sense of duty into its different branches, 
raised its moral tone. increiise<l its efficiency, punished dishonesty, and kept 
the service unsullied by the scandals arising from lax notions of ofiicial in- 
tegrity. In saying this I am not unmindful of the fact that the reform of the 
luiVilic service has not overcome in so hi ah a degree as was intended and as 
w;us desirable, the obstacles opposing it in t'le sliape of inveterate political 
habit and antagonistic interest; that therefore the highest .stand ird has not 
been reached ; that some mistakes have Ix'en made in the selection of persons 
or public position — points of whicli I shall s;iy more in the cour.se of these 
remarks ; but it is certainly true that tlie service is now sliowing a great-er de- 
gree of etliciency, a higher moral spirit, and a stronger sense of duty tlian li;\s 
prevailed periiaps at any time since the period when the admini-»tr.itive ma- 
chinery was demoralized by the introduction of tiie spoils .system. It h is in 
many of its branches introduced rules and methods whic'.i have Viirne excellent 
fruit, and are capable of the most beneficent development it" fiirther canied 
on V)y earning administrations in sympathy with them. 
rr-cxsrEKiTY of thk country. 

1 think I can wiy without exaggeration that these achievements will stand 
un(|uestioned in history by all fair-minded men. Withal the country is on the 
whole in gtiod condition. The peo]de are prosperous ag-ain ; business is reviv- 
ing ; our industries are active; labor finds ready and remunerative employ- 
ment ; the fiovernment enjoys the confidence of the business community in a 
rare degree, as our financial management has won the confidence of the whole 
worM. Everybody sees reason to look hoiiefully into the future, provided the 
comluct of our public affairs remains as good as it has been. 

Now the time for a ciiange in the nrr.-oiuif ? of the administration has 
arrived, and if the present conduct of afliirs is on the whole gnoil. patriotic 
and sensible citizens will see to it that the change now to come be such as to 
give the greatest possible guarantee for tlie pre.servation of all that is good, 
and, wherever possible, for an imiirovement on it. They cert.iinly will 
endeavor to prevent such a change as would thre-.iten a serious deterioration. We 
ehoidd. tiierefore. f wor that candidate for the Presidency who in this respect 
ran be l)est depended upon. 

We have to deal with two parties and their candidates. The Republican 
l>arty, witli James .\. (Jarfield at its head, and the Democratic party, with 
CJeneral Hancock. 1 do not deem it neces.sary to discuss the possibility of the 
victory of the (irecnback i>arty and their nominees, for the simple re;ison that 
their cham-es of success are not percei>tible to the ordinarv eye. and that their 
organ i/.;it ion may 1)0 looked upon as a mere tender to the Democracy. 

C-^N THK DEMO( r.ATIC ( ANDID.VTK .\M) IWKTV HK DEPENDKD UrON V 

Now I desire you to i»nt before your minds with impartial candor the ques- 
tion, whether the Democratic <Mndi late and the party Ijehind him can te best 
depended ui>on to preserve that which is good in the present condition of 
things, and develop it in the direction of improvement V I wish to state the 

by ui-Msfer 



question mildly, foi- 1 am not partisan enoucth— indood my orthodoxy in that 
respect has now and thou been questioned— to deal in wholesale and indis- 
criminate denunciation of our oi)pouents. I do not mean to incite your pre- 
judices and inllame your jiassions, but to discuss facts, and to draw from tliein 
legitimate conclusions. I do not want the party to which 1 b;'loug to dejiend 
foi success upon tlie lailincrs of its opi)oneuts, and I am theref(n-e not inclined 
to cxapTGterate the latter. While adlierini? to one party I desire tlie other to \)Q 
as good as possible, so as to comiiel my own to (lo its best. In this respect, 
therefore. I sincerely declare tliat I wi^Ii well totlie Democratic party. 1 once 
participated in an attempt, which attempt miscarried, to move it up to the 
progressive requirenrents of the times. The contending political parties in 
a repid)!ic should be such in point of mental and moral constitution and capa- 
bility tii.it the (lovernmeut may be intrusted to either witliout serious appre- 
hensit)n for the safety of the public interest. 1 hope it will be so some day, 
and I wish it were so now. Let ns see whether it is so now. 

To speak in all candor, it apjiears to me that the Democratic party labors 
under iiistoric as well as constitutional dilllculties. Since the downfall and 
disjqM^earance of the slave power as a compact political interest, from which 
the Democratic party, more than twenty years ago, derived its morals, its 
logic, its political skill and statesmanship, that party has been llounderiug 
about, out of logical connection with the questions of the day ; never know- 
ing the time of d:iy ; always looking for something to turn up, and when some- 
thing did turn up, spoiling it ; lamely lagging in the rear of the events and 
reqiiiirements of tlie day ; always behind : denouncing as impossible things that 
were already nccouiplished facts ; with a strange incapacity to understand the 
present and to measure tlie future, making itself the recipient and rallying 
point for all dangerous and obstructive tendencies and elements, and thus 
committing bluuder after blunder, whicli at the moment of their birth it imi- 
formly gloried in as great strokes of policy, from the secession movement la 
ISUl down to the nomination of (rcneral Hancock in ISSO. 

There are many good and clear-headed men in the Democratic party, men 
whom I personally esteem and whose friendship I value, who deplore this 
condition of things as much as I do, but are unable to control the obstreper- 
ous elements and tendencies of the organization, and to fit it for the tasks and 
responsibilities of government. 

It is not my habit to rake up the embers of past discords and to substitute 
for the living questions of the present issues which lie behind us ; but if we 
w-ant to ascertain the prevailing tendencies and the present capability for good 
government of the Democratic party in accordance with the spirit and require- 
ments of the present day, it Ls not unfair to review some striking experiences^ 
as illustrations. 

Looking back to the year ISGl, the fourth year of the civil war, when tho 
southern confederacy was near the total exh lustiou of its resurces, we fin-l the 
Democratic party iir national convention solemnly declaring that tiie war w;is 
a failure and must be abandoned. A few mouths afterwards tlie triumph of 
our arms was decided, and coufederacy collapsed, tlie restoration of our 
Union w;is assured, and the Democracy was forced to aknowledge that the war 
held been a success. Tlie Democracy had proclaimed its despair of the Republic 
just at the time when the triumph of the Republic was ri[)e. It became evident 
to every one that, had tlie D>^mocratic policy been then adopted, the w.ir would 
have indeed become a f.iilure and the Uuioii have gone to wreck and ruin. 

When slavery breathed its last :md its abolition had became an evident logical 
necessity, re([uiring uothing more thin the form of law, the Democratic i)arty 
declared that the abolition of si ivery would be the ruin of the country and 
must by all means be averted. Who is there to deny now that tho abolition of 
slavery was an absolute necessity, and has turned out a blessing V The Demo- 
crats are compelled to admit it themselves. 

When as measures of settlement the thirteenth, fourteentli. and fifteenth 
amendments were passed, the Democratic party declared them void and entitled 
to no respect, and almost immediately afterward found itself compelled to admit 
that for the pevice of the country an I as a bisisfor future development tiiese 
constitutional amendments had to be maintained. 

Coming down to more recent liistory, when the Republicans in Congress had 
passed the resumption act in 1S7.">. and the fruit of the restoration of specie 
payments was almost ripe to be plucked, the Democratic party in its national 
couveution of 1S70 thought it a smart thing to eleclare that the very act passed 



for bringing specie puymeuts •.viis an impeiiiment in its way and must be re- 
pealeti. And who is there to deny now that had the act been repealed undec 
the pressure of all the inflation elements in the country, the confusion of our 
Giiancial policy necessarily ensuing would have prolonged the evils of an irre- 
deemable paper currency under which we were then suffering V I need not accu- 
mulate further examples to show how incapaljle the Democratic party proved 
itself to understand and appreciate not only the immediate requirements of the 
times but facts that ha'l been virtually accomplished, and liow its great- 
est efforts were directed to the end of obstructing things that had become 
inevitable, and wliich it afterwards found itself compelled to admit as good. 

And now in tliis year of isso. when the war issues are fairly behind us : when 
by its conciliatory spirit and its strict observance of constitutional principles 
the Government" has removed all the elements of discord between the two 
sections which it was in its outi power to remove : when, aided l.ty a wise and suc- 
cessful financiiU policy, general prosi)erity is again blessing the land, and when 
the people look above all things for eiilighteued practical statesmanship that well 
understands the questions it has to deal with to foster and develop that pros- 
perity ; now the Democratic party laiows nothing better to do than to set aside 
all its statesmen of known and settled opinions, political experience and train- 
ing, and to nominate for the Presidency a major-general of the regular army. 
a professional soldier, who has never lieen anything else but that, and wh.i from 
the vej^" nature and necessities of his profession has always stood aloof from 
the management of political questions. 

I shall certainly not attempt to depreciate the character of General Hancock 
and the great services whicli he has rendered to the country. He is a gentleman 
of irrejuoachable i)rivale character, which I shall be sorry to see any effort made 
to discredit. As a soldier he has shown signal bravery and skill in'the handling 
of troops under ditiicult circumstances, and his name is identified with some 
of the mo:it splendid achievements of the war. For all this every good citizen 
will honor him. But the question is not whether we shall honor a deserving 
general. 

THE DIFFERE^'CE BETWEEN' II.VXDLrSCi TROOPS AND IIAXDLINC; THE .\FFAIRS 
OF -\ CJREAT GOVERNMENT. 

The question is whether that deserving general would be the kind of a Presi- 
dent the country needs, a President who can be depended upon successfully to 
solve the problems of statesmanship which are now before us : to preserve the 
good things already done and improve upon them. To lead l)attalions ot brave 
men against a fortified position or to win a campaign Viy a dashing mai!<euvre 
is one thing : to regulate the finances of the country iii such a way that the 
blessings of a sound currency may lie permanently secured to us ; to develop our 
commercial oi)port unities ; to organize the civil service in such a manner that it 
may conduct tlie public business upon sound business principles, is another ; 
and in the latter ease the brave spirit and ability which storms hostile batteries 
and lays low invading ho.sts does not appear in the first line of importance. When 
such (iillicult civic duties are to be performed we shall, as reasonable men. in- 
quire whether the brilliant eaptain. who appears so glorious at the head of his 
columns, is also familiar with the complex interests which in otlicial station he 
Avould have to serve ; whether his knowledge, ti-aining. experience and mental 
habits fit him cleivrly ti> distingui-h on the^ political field good from evil, not 
only in the aiistract, but in the confusing multiplicity and variety of forms in 
which things apjiear in reality ; whether he will be sutliciently e-iuipped to 
l»enetrate. restrain and bailie the wiles of political intrigue and the conflicts of 
faction among the friends, whicli always surround the chief niagi->trate of a 
great C(>mmon\ve;:Ith : whetlier he will show himself fitted to move on tlu.t field 
of civil action and duty, where forces are handled and directed not by a mere 
rule of conunand and obedience, but liy findiugthe just measure of firmnessand 
moderation in the pursuit of great objects and resistance to evil influences. I 
cannot impress it too strongly on your minds that there can lie no greater dif- 
ference than that between tiie handling of troops in a campaign and the hand- 
ling of the political forces of a great people and the handling of the political 
affairs of a great government. 

Moreover it must not be forgotten that this Government is no longer the 
.simplo machinery it was in tlie early days of the Hepublic. The bucolic age of 
Aiuorica i.-iover. The interests the Government has to deal witliare no longer 
t.hoso of a small number of agricultural communities, with here and there a 
cauimercial tawn. They i\re the interests of nearly fifty miUiona of peoyle 



5 

sprer.cl over an immense surface, witli occupations, purstiits and industries of 
endless variety and gieat magnitude : larpe cities with elements of population 
scarcely known here in the early days, and all these producinj; aspirations and 
interests so push inir, powerful and cumplicated in their nature, and so con- 
stantly apiiealintr to the Government rightfully or ^^Tonl^f ally, that the require- 
ments of statesmansliip demanded in this age are far different from those which 
sutliced a century ago. 

WHAT .VKi: THE DUTIES OF THE mESIDEXXV 

It is ix'lieved by many that it is an easy task to perform the duties of the 
President of the Tnite;! States — that the only thing he has to do is to form a 
programme of policy wliieh he desires to carry outrand to call good and exper- 
ienced men into his cabinet to attend to the detail of the business, without med- 
dling himself with its intricate complications. The experience I have gathered 
from personal observation, not only as a member of tlie legislative body but 
also of the cabinet, has convinced me that this is a great mistake. 

If all the President had to do were to select seven men who agi-ee with him 
as to the principal objects to be accomplished, and then consult and agree with 
them about the means to be used, undisturbed by the iiressure of outside forces, 
it would, indeed, be a comparatively easy and a comfortable thing. But the 
fact is that the President of the United States, by the very nature of his posi- 
tion, is obliged to spend far more time in listening to the advice and the wishes 
and the urgency of men outside of his cabinet, than to his consultations with 
cabinet ministers themselves. The opposition he may encounter from the op- 
posing party in Congress and in the press, is, in most cases, the least of the 
difliculties he has to contend with. The greatest puzzles that are apt to per- 
plex and sometimes to overwhelm his mind come from his own party, who 
have a claim upon his attention and insist to have that claim respected. Xot 
only upon the great measures of his administration, but upon every detail the 
advice of the members of his party, especially those in Congress, is urged upon 
him with all imaginable sorts of argument and from all imaginalile sorts of 
motive. There is scarcely an appointment he has to make, there is certainly 
not a reform he wants to execute, that he will not have to carry through a siege 
and storm of opposing wishes and interests. Every object he pursues will run 
counter to the wishes not only of his opponents, but of some of his friends; 
every reform, the execution of which may appear to him desirable, will treacl 
upon the toes of somebody whose interests lie in the abuse to be reformed, or 
who has a friend to protect who is connected with it : and all these pleas, repre-' 
sentations, remonstrances, urgencies and pressures go to the President, not 
through the members of his cabinet, but behind their backs ; and it is a matter 
of long and varied experience that unless the President himself has a suilicient 
knowledge of affaii's, a clear eye to see through arguments and motives, and 
that temper and skill which are necessary to resist" without offending, and to 
conciliate without giving up his objects, he will inevitably be run over and 
lamentably fail. Xo man who has not witnessed it has an adetiuate conception 
of the furious pressure the President is subjected to. especially during the first 
period of his administration : and that tirst period is apt to determine the char- 
acter of the whole. Xo cabinet minister can carry out a reform in the branch 
of the public service over whicli he i)resides unless he has the President at his 
back, for if the President yields to remonstrances and urgencies brought to 
bear upon him against such a reform, the cabinet minister will hnd himself baf- 
fled at every step. 

I speak from experience when I say that most of the good things that have 
been done under this administration, whatever merit the respective (,'abinet 
ministers may deserve for them, are no less due to the clear-headed and faith- 
ful supi>ort. frequently called the ■•amiable obstinacy,'' with which President 
Hayes stood behind them by warding off' the opposition. It is for such reasons 
01 inestimable benefit to an administration that the President himself should 
hav> had the experience of active work in legislative bodies, and especially in 
the Congi'ess of the United States. It will require in a President a higli; 
degree of that intuitive genius w^ith which but very few men in a centiu-y ara 
endowed to make his administration successful without that experience^ 

Now put, for the sake of argument, in that most trying position, General 
Hancock or any man trained exclusively in the walks of army life, of whicl^ 
he is so conspicuous an ornament— I mean a man not endowed with that in,-* 
tuitive genius whicii I have spoken of. and which even his most ardent frienc\sj 



as r mulerstand, do not claim for General Hancock. Wliat has there been m 
the school of his past life to fit him for it ? As a boy he w.is accepted by the 
Government as a calet at West Point, and thiit was his college and nniversity. 
I h<ve hi"h respect for tliat military school. Every br.uich of military science 
is tiirdit^iliere. I have no doubt, with knowledge, skill and success. The 
principles of military honor and the <?reat law of command and obedience are 
inculcited as the guidinGf stars of the future life of thi- student. The affairs 
of ordinary human existence outside of the military professiou. and the prob- 
lems it has to deal with, are necessarily treated as matters of only secondary 
moment. Our militirv school at West Point has given us many glorious 
soldiers who have adorned t!ie historv of the country ; but it his never been 
pretended that it was meant to be. or was, a school of statesmanship. That 
school absolved, the young mm entered into the regular army service. Of all 
classes of our societv it may be said that our regular army is the most e.Kclu- 
sive the most widely separated from the ordinary business life of the people 
in point of svmpathv, duty and habit. If we have an apart class among ns, a 
class whose contact with the cares and endeavors and business and objects of 
the life of the masses is onlv occasional and unsympathetic ; a class that in its 
ideas and aims is separated from the multitude, it is the officers of the regular 
army. This is not meant to discredit in any sense the character of our service 
or of the otlicers in it ; it is the almost unavoidable peculiarity of their train- 
in-^ and situation, for which theyare in no way responsible. Their duties 
may b? arduous ; but, except in places of highest command in active Avavfare, 
they are extremely sim'de. specihc and narrow ; and it is a common experience 
that the mental hori:^on of men is apt to become limited by the sphere of their 
duties. I have heard it said a hundred times, by men who had spent the best 
part of their lives in the regular armv, and then were thrown upon their own 
resources to make a living in ordinary pursuits, tliat their army life had unfitted 
them for the evcrv-day tasks of society. Tiiey found themselves, in a multi- 
tude of cases, utterly bewildered by the competition they had to run v.ith those 
who had been trained in civil pursuits. ITow is it possible to assume that men 
who have spent the best part of their lives, who have grown old in that exclu- 
ive atmosphere, should show particular fitness for the most complex and con- 
using of all duties, the highest civil ollice in the land ? 

t may be said, therefore, without exaggeration, that in a hundred cases to 
'. by taking an old regular r.rmy o!licer, who has never been anything else, 
and piitting him into the liighest and most dillicull political position, yoa may 
spoil an excellent gener.il in making a poor Prosiilent. 

There he is, with an honest intention to do right and to serve his country, 
rroblcms of financial i)olicy suddenly ri>e up before him— questions of reve- 
nue, of commercial policy, not in the way of general maxims and vague prin- 
ciples, but in the mysterious shape of practical problems to b3 applied to a 
given state of circumstances ; questions of party politics, v.iiere tlie interests 
of the public; and of the party are curiously mix'^d together in bewildering 
confusion. The man at the head of affairs means to do right ; let us assume 
his cabinet oflicers mean the same. But now a host of Senators. Representa- 
tives, prouinent political leilers from all parts of the country sw.vrm in noon 
him. Having never had anv practical contact witli the workings of financial 
or commercial sy.-^tems. having stood aloof from the intricicies of political 
managi'ment. the man at tlio liea I of tlie government is t!ie objective point of 
all their efforts. There are a hundred politicians of name and importance, 
real or pretended, who lay claim to his attention, and having hoard tliem ali- 
as he has to hear them— and finding tliat tlioir views and objects run counter 
to one another, he sul denlv discovers himself in an nnexpccte.l state of uncer- 
tainty as to what is riglit and what is not. what v.dll serve tho interest of the 
country and wliat will b-?nelit or injure the interests of his party. He has to 
moet a multitude of arguments put at hini'by a multitude of men from a 
hundred diffi-rent m )tives, all seeming to him important, bjcause all are to 
iiim now ; not a few am )ng the most prominent of those who urge their opin- 
ions most strongly upon his mind, trained and skilled by long practical school- 
ing iu all the arU of overing up the weak points of t!i?ii- ciscs and con- 
cealing their motives bv specious arguments, and of miking priv.Ue interests 
appear those of thn i)nblic. Tiiey have all contribute! to his election and suc- 
cess ; ttiey are all entitle I to his regard ; lie has iieard of them all as prominent 
men entitled to respect ; he has consi lered them all as men entitle 1 to credit •, 
and now ho discovers that their opinions clash and that their aims are differ- 



81V 

fu 
I 
one 



ent and contrailictovy. Scores of thorn l)eseechinf!; Iiim with tlioir iirponcy to 
m:ike hiin l)eli(>ve tint tho c;ibinot iniiiister ho trusts, by thothintis he attempts 
to cavrv out is injdriii'^ the p.irty upon whose perinuntMu^o tlio life, or at least 
the welfare, of tho H,,'piibli(' depemls. lie has yet to learii that the .Senator in 
his State or the ("oii'^ressiuau in his district has interests of his own, i)e(;Mliar 
to himself ; t'lit those interests are sometimes not exactly tho.ie of tlie coun- 
try or even of tliepirtyat lame; tlr.it the mm who is recommended to liim 
for hi',;h otiicial position, as a mo lei citizen of the Republic, has attained that 
position, iu the o )inion of his 1) ic'.cnr, less by services rendereil to the com- 
monweilth than by services rendered to a person ; that tiie same man will be 
represented to him by others, not as the mole! citizen, but as a villain who 
cannot bL> trusteil a moment, lie will be told that tliose who judge of jioliti- 
cal objects and the means by which to attain tlicm from a higher standpoint 
than mere personal or partisan interest, are amiable llieorists, who are well 
enough in their way, but are useless in the i)ra'dical conduct of politics ; 
that the practical politician, wlio CAres less for i)ublic (jnestions but is skilled 
in the management of men, is after all the man who can alone be counted 
iipon to i)reserve the power of his inirty, and thereby the salvation of the re- 
public. And when he has gone through this for weeks and months, and his 
head begins to swim in the confusing contests of interests and ambitions en- 
tirely new to him. and he feels himself in many things he lias done or left un- 
done under a pressure giving him no vest of mind, a helpless tool of foreign 
wills iust(^ id of b?ing the director of things, he will then conclude that the 
repulse of the liercest onset at the battle of Gettysburg and the taking of the 
angle of intrenchments in the Wilderness, glorious feats of arms, were after 
all very sim;de things co'npared with this. And as he goes on and gradually 
the light of experience dawns upon him. and he discovers glimmers of truth 
and linds himself unable to correct mistakes irretrievably made, and to re- 
di'ess injuries irremeliably indicted and to recover failures wjiich have then 
become part of the liistory of the country, he tinally will see reason to wish 
that his friends had \)ermitted him to enjoy his military renown in peace in- 
stead of casting over it a chjud of civil failure. 

The picture I have drawn is one which every man of experience in political 
affairs will recognize as aoplic.ible to every novice in politics placed in the 
Presidential chair, even under ordinary and favorable circumstances. But 
what is likely to happen to such a man elevated to the Presidency with such a 
motley host upon his back as the Democratic party is to-day? 

THE DIFFERENT ELEMENTS OF TIIE DEMOCR.VTIC PAUTY. 

Thai, party as now constituted is indeed a wonderful mixture of elements. 
I shall certainly not question the convictions and the motives of the enlightened 
and patriotic men that are in it who m-Mn to do the l)3st they can for the comitry 
with the means they have ; but it is not unjust to them to say that many of them 
are undoubtedly not without their misgivings as to the latter, and are held 
where they are by the strength of life-long associations, by the traditions of 
circles and constituencies witliin which they move and from which they have 
derived their i)osition and powc'r ; and al-;o by t!io opinions grown from long 
struggles against what they consi lere 1 and what in so'ue cases may have l^een 
abuses on the other side: men of goal intentions, laboring under the <lisad- 
vantage of seeing their a-pirations and endeavors hem ne 1 in an 1 Ijalllcil by 
followers andbv circumstances which tliey cannot control. Tiiere is the South- 
ern element, of which I sh ill certainly not be inclined to deny that a marked im- 
provement has taken place in the temper and aspirations of many of its leading 
men, who have cast the old ambitions of the w\xr period behind them and are now 
with a patriotic spirit endeavoring to serve the country, and to whom therefore 
our esteem is due. It is also true that they begin to be sui)porte I by a (dass of 
orderly and well-meaning citizens ; but it is no less true that they find tiiem- 
selves hatnpered and clogged by noisy factions in their constituencies, w lio, 
whether they are a majority or not, en leavor, and I regret to sav in many 
instances successfully, to imoress their temoer upon the c!i aracter of Southern 
politics ; still smirting under the defeitsof the war and the lo-^ses which tho-se 
defeats had brought upon them ; some of them with a sullen feeling that those 
defeats were ;m insult as well a? a wrong to them, for which, in some wav, they 
must have satisfaction ; witli a vagie desire to retrieve of the old condition of 
things something they do not know exactly wh it ; and withal insisting that 
something is dne to them as Southern men in politics, as weU as in society, and 



in their worlcllv fortunes as compared with the rest of mankind ; rather reck- 
less of the ri<,'hts of others : with financial ideas destitute of a due rectard for 
tlie tjood faith of the country, inclined to tly to any money system which they 
vapuelv think can be manipulated so as to make them rich a^ain by locrerde- 
rnain -."deernincc it due to them that large appropriations should be made for 
their particular benefit, for all imasiuable purposes, good. bad. and indifferent, 
nierelv to pour money into that section of the country : with scarcely any 
traditions in government, except such as existed in their States before the war» 
and the reactionary desires and attempts of the party immediately after it ; 
with appetites sharpened bv long exclusion from power and the sweets of office, 
and grcedv to make the most of that if they can obtain it. 

There i.s the Northern Democracy, also with men of statesman-like instincts 
in it and excellent intentions, but Ijehind them a large numl)er of restless and 
ambitious politicians who. for twenty years, have lieen boxing the compass to 
find some ])rinciple or some policy, to avail themsely^ of some passion, or some 
prejudice bv which they might Avin an election and regain the possession of 
power. Such an element, however, will be found, more or less, represented 
in all parties. But the Democracy has had the misfortune of exercising ai 
remarkable power of attraction for" the adventurous, and even the dangerous, 
elements of om- population : and its attempts to regain power by all sorts of 
devices, and the advocacy of all sorts of prhiciples and policies has gathere^ 
under its banner so rnanv divergent tendencies and incongi-uous elements, hel(| 
together by the only desire to regain the spoils of government, that when tha 
party comes into power nobody can tell which element will be uppermost in 
strength and determine the current of its policy. 

Thus we find there the hardest of hard-money men hand in hand with tho 
wildest of inllationists. the freest of free-traders and the stiffest of protection- 
ists : we find them in their platforms declaring for the restoration of specif 
payments to satisfy one part and the repeal of the resumption law in the sama 
sentence to satisfy" the other part of the organization. We find men who would 
scorn the idea of faithlessness to our national obligations in the closest alliance 
and co-operation with those who repudiated their debts in their own States, and 
who would not hesitate a moment to repudiate the debts of the Republic. Wa 
find men sincerely desirous of cultivating among the Southern people th<> 
heartiest sentiments of lovaltv to the Kepublic and respect for the rights of alT, 
irresi)ective of color, and by tiieir side men who still think that their own rights 
are wcirth nothing' unless they are permitted to oppress the rights of others^ 
And it nu!>t not be forgotten" that upon these different elements the ofiicial dec- 
larations of platforms have not the least effect. While the party in its national 
conventions declares for specie payments, that does not hinder a moment Demr 
ocratic Congressmen from opposing resumption in Congress, or the Democrats 
of Ohio fmm nomiuatincr their inllation leader. General Ewing, or the Demo- 
crats in Indiana from nominating the fiat-money man. Landers, for the gov- 
ernorship of those States : nor does it prevent the Democrats in many of the 
AVestern and Southern States from pursuing their greenback agitation as lustily 
as before. 

While they declare for an observance of our national obligations, that doe^ 
not hinder the Democrats in many of the Southern States from going on ini 
their work of local repudiation, and declaring that local repudiation is so good 
a thing that it ought to be made general. But all these factions, these incou- 
gruou.s elements, are held together by one great impulse— that is, the appetite 
ibr jMililic plunder, which the exclusion from power for twenty years ha^ 
stimulated to a flegree of keenness scarcely ever seen before. Xow consid^p 
that. Ji (ieneral Hancock ever can be elected, it must be a very hearty co-opeig 
ation of all these elements— the (Treenback-Democrats in C)liio, Maine auct 
Indiana and the West and South, with the hard-money men in New York, Ne\w 
• Jersey and other States ^ the protectionists in one quarter and the free-trader^ 
in another ; the war- Democrats in the North and the reactionary elements 
elsewhere ; and to all these elements together. (General Hancock, if successful 
at all. will owe his success ; and all those elements, if the successful party is tqi 
be maintained in itsstrength and continued in power, must be satisfied -wi order 
to iiold them together. 

That will be tlie situation and such the problem which the soldier, to whom 
political science and management so far have been a sealed book, will have tqj 
solve. Wliat will he do to s;Uisfythe hard-money men without driving th^ 
Greeubackers awav? What will he do to keep the Greenbackers iathe party 



9 

without betrayincc the luinciples of the hard-money men? Flow will he 
satisfy the Southern element, that claims to have been robbeil by an anti- 
slavery war, and is entitled to restiluiion in some shape, and at the same liu«e 
keep the management uf the Goverunu'nt within the bounds of economy and 
l>ropitiate the Northern tax-payer V How will he content the Southern men in 
the distribution of oitic^s. Avho will claim that they have f urnislied the majority 
of votes and are therefore entitled to the lion's share V And how will he keep 
the Northern Democracy in ccood spirits and in working order by a distribution 
of the patronage which will appease the hunger of twenty years? These are 
some of the iiroblems which the unsophisticated soldier President, whose whole 
sphere of mental activity has so far been confined to the handling of troops on 
the field of battle, and to the narrow horizon of duty whioli army life in times 
of peace comprises, will have to solve. And these problems he will have to 
solve not in the quiet of the closet, surrounded by a few alile counsellors in 
peaceful consultation, but quickly, under the bewildering pressure of not a 
hundred but thousands of eager politicians, who fill the ear with a babel of 
sound and with a pandemonium of conflicting ambitions. This is a task that 
would tax a man of phenomenal genius to the utmost of his capacity ; but 
what will become of one who is unaided even by the least experience of political 
life, and has nothing but his inner consciousness to measure the value of the 
arguments and pretenses which are dinned into his ears and the character of 
the interests that besiege him with their urgency for immediate action ? 

THE KEPUDIATIXCt TENDENCY. 

Let US see now Avhat, in view of all this. Ave have a right to expect from a 
Democratic victory. Is it the maintenance of our public faith ? While there 
are prominent opponents of repudiation in the Democratic party, it is a notor- 
ious fact that all the elements hostile to the constitutional discharge of our na- 
tional obligations have also gathered under the same banner. Nearly all, if not 
all the States that have repudiated or speak of repudiating their own debts are 
Democratic States, with heavy Democratic majorities, furnishing Democratic 
electoral votes and Congressmen. Who will tell me that it is certain they will be 
more conscientious with regard to the national debtthan they showed themselves 
with. regard to their own ? Have we a right to e\i)ect a sound financial policy ? 
While there are many good, sound money men in the Democratic party, it is 
equallv well knowni that the Democratic party has irresistibly attractedto its fold 
a verv'large majoriU' of the Greenbackers. inflationists and fiat-money men. 1 1 
has. indeed, in its national platforms of late declared for sound money : but in 
1S7G. while it pronounced for resumption itdemanded at the same timethe repeal 
of the resumption law. I ask what would have become of resumption kad tlie re- 
sumption law been repealed ? But while thus sp.eaking of sound money in their 
national platforms is it not equally true in a large number of the States the 
most prominent inflationists aie put forward for the highest honors followed by 
the masses of their parrv? So General Ewing, in Ohio, so General Butler, in 
Massachusetts, so Mr. Landers, in Indiana : while in Maine Democrats and 
Greenbackers fuse in cordial embrace, and while in many of the Western and 
most of the Southern States the Democrats almost en masse represent unsound 
financial ideas. Is it not true, thac to the very last resumption was opposed in 
Conoress by Democratic Congi-essmen ? Why. when General Hancock was 
nominated the attraction for the Greenbackers seemed to 1:>e so strong that the 
venerable Peter Cooper and General Sam. Carey, of Ohio, were among the first 
to pay to him their devotion and wish him success. 

Now. can anvbodv foretell what will happen in these respects in case of a 
Democratic victory ? In fact, we do not know whether the advocates of the pub- 
lic faith or the repudiationists. whether the hard-money men or the inflation- 
ists, are the stronijest element in the Democratic party throughout the country, 
and which of those elements will control its policy. I appeal to you, business 
men. am I going too far in saying that all this is dark, and that in voting the 
Democratic ticket you will take a gambling chance, and that chance being rather 
against you? Are you prepared, tax-p.ayers of the country, to take tlwt gam- 
bling chance under such circumstances ? 

THE SOHT OF CIVIL SERVICE KErOHM mdMISED BY TUAT PAUTY. 

But one thing is certain, that the Democratic party, in its fashion, will re- 
form the civil service. That it will cenainly do ; it will do it according to an 
old Democratic principle, "to the victors belong the spoils." That principle 
is of Democratic origin, and the Democratic party ha^ adhered to it with a 



10 

fidelity worthy of the best cause. Other parties were infected by it, but the 
Democratic party may claim the <;lory of its paternity and of its most un- 
swervin'^ alvcwacy. It may abandon any other principle, but not that. If 
there ever was a Democrat, eitlier at the head of the orj^anization or in 
the ranks, who luis ])rovcd recreant to that j^reat doctrine, and made prxrlama- 
llon ot his op;)o>ition to it, I do not know his name. It is so closely inter- 
woven witli the traditions of that party that 1 doubt very much w'.iether it 
could bo abandoned without destroyin^c the party's exi.stence. That ijreat word, 
•'the cohesive power of public plunder." ha I its lirst and most poi.ited appli- 
cation to the Democracy. And, indeed, when we look at its lieterorjeneons 
elements tod;iv, it is not easy to ima-^ine any other cohesive power which 
coidd hold th(!m tojfcther. If General Hancock, or any other leader, should 
si.nnify his intention to abandon it, every Democrat in the land would receive 
tlie news with an ironical smile, anci simply say that that leader knew a 
trick or two. If such an intention were declared, and the declaration be- 
lieved, it is not unlikely tliat tiieir hosts would disband at once. Wlien the 
Democracy, therefore, speaks of a reform of the civil service, the meanini? of 
that term.in the liglit of history and of the tendencies at present prevailin;?. 
can l>e nothing else than that the reform shall consist in puttincr out all the 
Kepublicans and puttin"? all Democrats in their i)laces. AVhat a reform that 
would be! How the North and South would shake hands over the bloody 
chasm filled with such good things'!*' What a host of men would be marching 
upon tlie capital from all quarters of the compass, each one feeling that he is 
born to serve the public, and that the Government cannot get on without 
him! It is said that at the present moment, when the Democracy feels san- 
guine of success, as it always does, the most popular work of literature with 
Democrats, even with those who never read a book before, is the "Bluo Book," 
being the re^rister of ollices under the Government, with salaries attached, 
each active Democrat selecting his, and many the .s;*.me. 

Xow let us see what that sort of Democratic reform in the civil service 
really means and what its effect would be. Look at the present condition of 
the service. I have already admitted that the reform of it has not gone so far 
as was intended and was "desirable, but I may say also tiiat more lias been 
accomplished tlian is generally known and believed. I repeat, it is an almost 
univer>allv acknowledged fact that at present the public business is, on the 
wliole. well and hoJiestlv conducted in the Government offices. The revenues 
are collected with rcmarkal)le lidelity, and nnvcr in the history of the country 
has the loss in tlieir collection been as small as now. In some of its branches 
it has almost entirely disapi>eared. The postal service is acknowledged to be 
more than ever al)ly, honestly, and efficiently done. Even in tliose branches 
of the ])ublic service wliicli liiore than others have almost from the beginning 
of tlie Government borne the reputation of being ineilicient and corrupt, such 
as the land and esi)ecially the Indian service, cases of i»eculation and roguery 
have become comparatively rare, and the general ineffici ncy of officers is very 
much improved : and I speak of this with assurance, for the reason that I am 
conversant with the details. How has this been brought about ? 

In the tir>L i)la(<'. officers of all grades were made to understand that dishon- 
esty of whati-ver kind or degree would under no circumstances be tolerated. 
Oflicers guilty of corrupt practices, whenever their guilt was shown with suffi- 
cient clearness, liave been exposed and ejected from their places without hesi- 
tation. Every nuin in the service understanding this, it may be .said that if 
persons witii thieving propensities were left or put in place, tiu'y did in most 
cases not dare to steal. Secondly, the nunil)er of removals made l>y tliis adminis- 
tration has been comparatively small. Not only clerks in t!ie departments, but 
ollicers, appointed for a term of years, were generally left in their places :'.s long 
as lliey siioweil the necessary degree of ability ami eiliciency in the discharge of 
their duties. In liiis way the service retained a very valuable stock of official 
e\i)erience wiiich could liot but tell in its general efficiency, while at the same 
time public .servants were iml>ued with a feeling tliat the best way to secure 
themselves in ])lace was to perform llieir duties according to the best standard. 
Thirdly, in apixdntiuir new nuui care was taken to .select such Jis would pre- 
sumably be cai»able to perform the tasks assigned to tliem. In some depart- 
ments, and in a number of tiu- larger Goveriunent institutions in tiie country, 
sy.'-tenis of examinations were introduced, wiiich deterred at once tlie entirely 
incapable from urging themselves or being urgeil for official position, while they 
furnished also a good measure of the capacity of the applicants. This system 



11 

of examination may not in all cases furnish an absolutely rdiablo test, l)ut it 
has proveti to bo an infinitely better test than mere recommendation from po- 
litical favor. It has not been extended as far as it should be, but a f;ood be.:?in- 
ning has been made, capable of larijo extension and develoi)ment. Fourthly, 
the practice of making promotions from lower to hicrlier i)laces for good otlicial 
services rendered, not only in the departments, but also in some branches of 
the service outside of thenr has been carrie<l out to a much greater extcnit tliaa 
id generally known ; thus furnisiiins anotlier stimulus to the zeal of the public 
servants. I repeat that mistakes in appointments iiave undoubtedly occurred, 
some of a more or less conspicuous kind, and that the principles of a thorough 
reform have not been as universally applied as they should have been. (Jreat 
cries have been raised about instances in which those principles ai)pear to have 
been disrecrarded; but under the old regular spoils system such insUmces were the 
rule, comnliancc with which would not h ive been criticised at all ; and the very 
cries that'are now raised with regard to tb.ein in our case prove that at present 
they are the exception. The very kind of criticism applied to the administra- 
tion shows that things have grown better. In spite of the imperfections of the 
methods followed, the result has been that the public business is recognized to 
be conducted now iu a more business-like manner than before, and that the 
efficiency of the service has been lifted up to a much higher standard. 

2s'ow substitute for this the Democratic reform, making a clean sweep accord- 
ing to the old spoils system, and what will you have ? Hundreds of thousands 
of""politicians, great and small, but all hungry, rushing for seventy or eighty 
thousand places, backed and i)ressed by every Democratic Congressman and 
every Democratic committee in the land. This impetuous rush must be satis- 
fied as rapidly as possible, for they want to make the best of their time, and in 
this case, as well as others, time is money. It is useless to disguise it : the 
masses of olTice-seekers. starved for twenty years, will not be turned back as 
long as there is a mouthful on the table. Seventy or eighty thousand othcers 
selected at random from that multitude of ravenous applicants will be put into 
places held now mostly by men of tried capacity and experience. They must 
be taken at random, for it is impossible to till so large a number of places in so 
short a time as the furious dem-and will permit, in any other way. Need I tell 
any sensible man what the effect upon the conduct of the public business will 
he? It will be the disorganization of the whole administrative machinery of 
the Government at one fell blow ; it will be the sudden substitution of raw- 
hands for skilled and trietl public servants ; the substitution of the eager desire 
to make out of public affairs as uruch as can be made in the shortest possible 
time, for otficial training, experience and sense of responsibility. It will be a 
removal for some time at least of those carefully devised guards which are now 
placed over the public money and its use ; it will in one word be the suddea 
distribution of so many thousand places of trust, responsibility and power, 
now well filled, in the true sense of the word as spoils among the hosts of the 
victorious partv. 

It is useless to sav that the Democratic party contains a sufficient number of 
men of ability and "integritv to fill all those places. No doubt it does. But it 
is absolutely impossible"^f or those who have the appointing power, even if they 
were ever so well disposed, to make careful selections for so many thon.sand jdaces 
in a short time, especially considering the fact that usually the least worthy aspi- 
rants are among the most clamorous and the most skillful in securing the 
strongest political indor.semcnts. Need I tell the tax-payers what such an ex- 
periment will cost V Suppose after a success of the Democratic party in a Tresi- 
dential election all the offices, high and low, in all the banks and .savings institu- 
tions of the country, were to be filled suddenly with Democratic politicians upon 
therecommendationofDemocraticCongres.-imenandcampaign committees, what 
wonldthestockholdersandthedepositorsthinkofthesafety of their money? And 
yet the interests involved in the banks are certainly by no means gre.iter than 
the interests involved in the conduct of the great Government of tlie United 
States. I do not think this is putting the case too strongly, and I invite the 
business men of the country and the tax-payers generally to consider it 
well before they cast their votes. 

WHAT IS XEEDED TO ODVIATE TUESE DIFFICULTIES AXD DISASTERS. 

I am willing to assume that in all these respects General Hancock entertains 
the best possible intentions, and even that he m.iy form for himself a plan of 
action intended to obviate these dinicultios aad disasters. lie may possibly 



1-2 



tell vou so, ami mean what he savs. Yet is it not obvious that, hiiving no ex- 
perience whatever in political life, he will be completely at the mercy of wind 
and waves, and that there will be a power of wind in the Democratic victors 
clamoring for the spoUs strong enough to upset the ingenuity of the firmest 
and most skiUed politician in his party ? Xo, let nobody indulge in any de- 
lusion about it ; a Democratic victorv means that the victors will take the 
spoils at once : and this means the complete destruction for a time of the whole 
administrative machinery of the Government, with all its checks and guards, 
and the people will have to foot the bills for the carnival. This will be a re- 
form of the civil service to make the ears of the tax-payeis tingle. 

Xo prudent citizen can fail to be repelled by such prospects unless equally 
great or greater dangers threaten from the other side. Let us look at tliat 
other side now. I am certainlv not one of those who would assert that 
the Republican party has beeii without fault. I have been one of its 
most unsparing critics, and have been unsparingly criticised my.self by thor- 
ouf'h-going partisans in return. I shall always claim for myself freedom ot 
opinion and speech in that respect. The Republican party has undoubtedly 
made a great many mistakes. I will not go I'ack to the period of reconstruc- 
tion and an absolved Southern policv, because that lies far behind us, and is not 
an i<<ue in this campaign. Its constitutional results havebecome settlements, ac- 
cepted Viv both sides— in profession at least, and the policy of force after the re- 
admis^ion of the late rebel States has under this administration yielded to a 
scrupruous rule of constitutional principles. Xeither would I deny that, with 
regard to the question of the public debt at one time and to the currency ques- 
tion for a more extended period, there was in the Republican party an antago- 
nism of opinions, a contest of conflicting ends. AVe have had Republican 
advocates of the pavinent of the public debt in greenbacks : we kive had He- 
publican inflationists, and the discussions inside of the Republican party were 
for some time healed and bitter. Thus for a season the party seemed to 
stumble along with an uncertain gait, but it has always had an unerring in- 
stinct which in the end made it turn right side u]) ; and then it kept riglit side 
np When in lS(i9 the Republican maiority in Congress declared for the pay- 
ment of the public debt, principal and interest, in coin, there was the end once 
and forever of the repudiation movement, open and disgui.sed. in the Repub- 
lican iiarty. When in 187o tlie Republican majority in Congress passed the 
resumption act. there was the end. once and forever, of the unredeemable naper- 
inonev business in the Republican party. Those who remained repudiationists 
or tiat-nionev men did not remain Republicans, at least not leaders of the party. 
Thev tried their luck for some time inside of it : then they left it, and became 
independent Greenbackers. and finallv most of them landed in the Democratic 
partv. as the Democratic Greenbackers. who for a time became independents, 
mostly went back there. General Weaver and his followers are still m the 
intermediate state, but will no doubt finally materialize as sound Democrats. 

THE UEl'UnLICAN TAllTT THE rUOTECTOR OF THE XATIOXAL FAITH. 

But while the Democratic partv has been attracting such elements, tlie Re- 
publican party has been either converting them to sound principles or ejecting 
them until they almost whollv disappeared among its component parts. Ihus 
it has become emphaticallv the protector of the national failli and the party ot 
sound monev. 1 have no doubt that the disagreements still existing upon ti- 
nancial subjects of minor imnortance in the Reimblican party will be solved in 
the same way after mature discussion. This tendency in the Republican party 
has been owing to some verv eliaracteristic causes. It was not only a predomi- 
naiuu of good sense and a tbmightful desire to be right and an endeavor to do 
that which was best for the general interests of the people, but it was also the 
traditional feeling grown out of the loyal attitude of the Republican party dur- 
in" the civil war in support of the Union and the preservation of the Republic— 
the feeling of solemn dutv th.1t all the obligations contracted for so .sacred a 
purpose must lie and remain sacred and inviolable. Theretore it was ihat the 
idei of repudiation never could obtain a permanent foothold among Kepubli- 
cans, wliatever the vacillations of individual muuls during a limited period 
may "have been. And the abhorrence of repudiation in our discussions of the 
financial problem inspired the most powerful arguments that brought the Ke- 
l)ublican masses to a sound appreciation of tlie money question. 

Inthiswav the Republican partv. steadily progressing in an enlightened per- 
ception of the principles of sound finance, has become the reliable sound money 



13 

party of the country, to which, as partipsnow are, the solution of new linanciar 
problems can alone bo safely trnsteil. And how masrnHiepntly do the effects of 
the results already aeliievoii appear in the revival of our business pros\)erity! 

It may be said that our linaucial policy has not wholly originated that pros- 
perity. True, but it has most powerfully aided it by giving us that confidence 
whicii is impossible without stable money values and a sound currency system. 
And what prudent man would'now ri>k these great results by turning over our 
llTiancial policy to the hands of a party which, as I have shown, is the refuge of 
all destructive" elements threatening new uncertainty and confusion V 

Indeed, not only in the traditions and good sense of the Repul)lican party do 
you lind the best security there is at present for the sanctity of our national 
faith as well as a successful management of the financial policy ; you find equal 
security in the known opinions and principles of its candidate, James A. (iar- 
field. ilis convictions on these subjects have not found their first and best 
proclamation in the platform of his party or in his letter of acceptance. Ilis 
record of nearly twenty years of Congi^essional service is not a blank on the 
great questions "of the times, like that of hi3opp:>nent. There is not a phase of 
the question of our national obligations : there is not a point of financial policy, 
from the tir.'^t day that the subject was considered in Congress since he became 
a member of that body to the present hour, that he has not discussed with an 
ability and strength, a lucidity of argument, amplitude of knowledge and firm- 
ness of conviction, placing him in tlie first rank of the defenders of sound prin- 
ciples. 

If you want to study the reasons why the public faith should be inviolably 
maintained, why an irredeemable paper currency is. and always has been, a 
curse to all the economic interests of this and all other countries, why confi- 
dence can be restored and maintained, why business can obtain a healthy 
development, why foreign commerce can be most profitably conducted only with 
a money system of stable and intrinsic value, you will find in the speeches of 
James A. "Garfield upon this subject the most "instructive and convincing in- 
formation. You will find there opinions not suddenly made up to order to suit 
an opportunity and the necessities of a candidate in an election, but the con- 
victions of a life-time, carefully matured by conscientious research and large 
inquiry, and maintained with powerful reason, before they had become generally 
popular. You find there a teacher, statesman and a leader in a great movement, 
with principles so firmly grounded in liis mind as well as his conscience, that he 
would uphold them even were they not supported liy a powerful party at his back. 
There is double assurance, therefore, in the traditions and acts of the party 
and in the character of the leader at its head. 

As to the civil service. I have stated to you what in my opinion its condition 
is to-day, and that opinion accords. I think, with that of every fair-minded 
observer. As to what it will become in case of a Republican victory. I shall 
not predict the millennium, neither from the knowledge I have of the ol^stacles 
in the way of a permanent reform on sound principles, nor from the party plat- 
form, nor from the last utterance of the candidate. One thing, however, may 
be taken for certain : the administrative machinery of the Government will 
not be suddenly taken to pieces and disorganized, to be recomposed of raw 
material. In so fiu: as it has shown itself honest and eflicient, it will be pre- 
served in its integrity and elHciency. and upon the good foundation laid, there is 
reason for assurancethat it will be" developed to greater perfection. The busi- 
ness interests of the country, the tax-payers generally, whose first desire it must 
be to see the public business of the Government administered in an hon- 
est and intelligent way. will, therefore, have no reason to fear sudden and fitful 
revulsions in the organization of the administrative machinery, as the distri- 
bution of the spoils among the victors after Democratic success would inevita- 
bly be. This is the least advantage we may expect with certainty ; but that 
advantage is so great that no man of sense will fail to appreciate it. Of the 
greater, more thorough-going and permanent reforms which I have long con- 
sidered not only necessiuy but also piacticable.and whicli have been attempted 
and in part carried out. it may V.e said that so far their advocates have made 
themselves heard only on the Piepublican side, and that at present there ap- 
pe;us to be no other organization of power in which they can be worked for 
Avith any hope of success. That this work will not be "given up. is certain, 
while, on the Democratic side, we have no reason to look for anything else 
tlum a complete relapse into those liarbarous methods wliich in former times 
have proverl so demoralizing as well as exjieusive. 



14 

WHERE WILL THE FARMER, TIIE MERCHANT, THE BUSINESS MAN, THE 
MAXUFAtTUUER GO WHO DESIRE THE PUBLIC FAITH MAINTAINED? 

Anrl now I appeal to the conservative citizens of the Republic, to you who 
de-ire the public faith sacredly maintained, where will you go V Can you, in 
view of present cirfumstances, conscientiously go to the Democratic party ? 
You will indeed find there not a few men who think as you do ; but with them 
you will timl closely allied in partv interest all those elements to whom our na- 
tional obliirations are the foot-ball of momentary advaiitafre. You will lind on 
that sitle every State that has repudiated or speaks of repudiatins its public 
del>t ; you will find there all those wlio decried tlie public creditoras the public 
enemy", and whom no loval tradition and impulse attaclies to the national honor. 
Yon will lind there a partv. inside of which the public faith has still to fight a 
battle with its enemies, withcnit anv certainty of its issue. Is that your place ? 
Or will you t,'o to the Republican side, where the loyal maintenance of our pub- 
lic faith ha-s" become a fundamental principle, universally adhered to with un- 
swervinti lidelitv. in sjiite of the s<ists of adver-e i)ublic sentiment in former 
days V And vou who desire to preserve the fruits of the success g-aiued in the 
abolition of the curse of an irredeemable paper money and the re-establish- 
ment of specie payments, wliere will you go V Will you go to the Democratic 
partv, where acraiii you will find some who think as you do. and yet with them 
as a powerful and perhaps the most numerous component ])art of the organiza- 
tion, wielding commanding influence in a great many of tiie States subject to 
its control, the great mass of the inllatiouists and fiat money men who Avere 
g-atliered under the Democratic banner by a seemingly irresistible jjower of at- 
traction, and filrnished manv of the acksiowledged leaders of that organization, 
and who even now. when the prosjierity of the country has l)een so magnificently 
aided bv a sound financial policv. v.ould be ready to subvert it all and throw the 
country back into the wild confusion of the fiat money madness ? Will you. busi- 
ness men, farmers, manufacturers, merchants of the country, find the safety of 
your interests there V Will vou help a partv to power, inside of which, between 
its component elements, the battle of a sound money system and an irredeemable 
pai>er currencv is still i>eiidimr. and will you trust tlie earnings of tiu?i'ooras well 
as the fortunes of the wealthy to tlie uncertainties of its issiieV Or will youga 
to the Republican side, where great victories for the cause of good money have 
been achieved : where sound sense and patriotism have won every fight so far 
decided, and where we may with certainty look for the same sound sense and 
patriotism to solve the problems not yet disposed of V And you who desire 
the a bninistnitive business of the (Government performed in a business-lilve 
way bv hiuiest and capable ])ublic servants, where will you go ? Will you go to 
the Democratic partv. wliich has no other reform idea than an eager desire to 
take the wiiole adn'iiiiistrative machinery of the (Joverument suddenly to 
pieces, and to fill it as rapidlv as possible w-ith politicians demauding offices as 
spoils V Or will you go to the Rep"Wican side, where you have the assurance 
of a civil service wliich. in spite of shortcomings and mistakes, has already on 
the whole proved itself capable to transact your business honestly and efti- 
cientlv. and where you find all those elements that are faithfully and energeti- 
cally working for a more thorough and permanent reform? 

THE r.VTH OF SAFETY AND rUOSI'EKITV. 

1 might go on with the catalogue to show you where the path of safety lies ; 
hut it is enough. Your own State of Indiana furnishes you at this moment a 
mo>t instructive illustration. Look at the contending forces here. On the one 
hand, a m;in i)ut forward bv the Democrats as their candidate for the govern- 
ship, one of the leaders of the wildest iufiation movement, one of the most 
vociferous advocates of tlie rei>eal of the resumption act, the successful execu- 
tion of which has conferred upon tiie .Vmericau people such inestimable blessings. 

Wliere would our prosperitv be had he and his followers prevailed V And now 
you (iud iiini the representative man of tiie Democratic party, still advocating 
his wild iloctrines, antl hoping for their triunii>h, wliieii would be the ruin of 
your prosperitv. You are certaiulv niimlfiil of the fact that the wise and pa- 
triotic men among vou. and I am glad to say that they were a majoritv of yoiu- 
voters, made au elTort to tlo away with the scandals of fraudulent voting, aris- 
ing from tlie aKsence of a good registration law and the seductive opportunities 
furnisheil bv voiir OctolK-r elections. You know how a majority of your citi- 
zens with the" applause of all fair-minded men in the country, voted and carried 
that reform at an election held for the ratification of your constitutional amend- 



15 

meats ; you know how by Democratic judf^es that decision of the majority wiis 
set aside iii)ori reasons wliich maletlm wiiohi h^n.il profession stare the coimtry 
over. Is il'.at LIic i>arty, wliich as citi/.ciis of I n<liana, mindful of the welfare 
and the Rood name of this Slate, you will su|);)orty 

Xow loolv to the other side. Your ltci)ul)liea:i candidate for the povernor- 
f.hil), one of your purest, best informed, and most useful and patriotic men. 
who o'l every question of ]jublic interest stands on tlie side of the honor of 
the country and the welfare of its citizens ; whom even the voice of slander 
cannot reaeii, and to whose h.ands his very opponents woidd without hesitation 
commit their interests. That is the illustration Indiana gives of the character 
of our nati(uial contest. 

Wha!. is tlieretheu on the Democratic side 'which could seduce you from the 
l)ath of safety V Is it the nomination for the Presidency of a soldier whodnrinR 
the war did brave deeds and deserved wcdl of the country? Is it a sense of 
gratitude for those brave deeds that should make you elevate the soldier to the 
place in which a sta.^esman is wanted V Gratitude to those who on the field of 
l>attle bared their breasts to the enemies of the country is a sentiment of which 
I shall not slightiivAly speak ; it is a noble entiment ; but is the Presidency of 
the United Stales a mere bauble that should be given as a reward for things 
done on a field of action whoUy different V 

Is the Presidency like a presentation sword, or a gift horse, or a donation of 
money, or a country house, given to a victorious soldier to please him V If so, 
then simple justice would compel us to look for the most meritorious of our 
soldiers and reward them in the order of their merit ; and, brave and skillful 
as General Hancock has ])een, thereare others who have claims of as-till higher 
order. Then. General (xrant having already been President, we shonld reward 
General Sherman and Lieutenant General Sheridan first before we come to the 
Major (General nominated bythe Democratic party. Certainly, let us bo grate- 
ful ; but let us not degrade the highest and mo.st "responsible trust of the Re- 
public to the level of a mere gift of gratitude. Let militarv heroes be lifted up 
to the highest rank in the service which belongs to the soldier. I.,et them be 
rewarded with the esteem of their countrymen ; and, if need be, let wealth 
and luxury be showered upon them to brighten that life which they were ready 
to sacrifice for their country. 

But let it never be forgotten that the Presidency is a trust that is due to no 
man ; th;it nobody has ever earned it as a thing belonging to him, and that it 
should not be bestovred but for services to be rendered in the way of patriotic 
and enlightened statesmanship. 

SUBOKDIXATION OF THE MILITAllY TO ( IVIL TOWEH. 

But above all things, the Presidency should never be pointed out as the at- 
tainable goal of ambition to the i)rofessional soldier. I certainly do not mean 
to depreciate the high character of the regnlar army. r>ut I cannot ref r.iin from 
saying that in a Republic like ours great care should lie taken not to demoralize it 
by instilling political ambition into the minds of itsoiVicers. Tlic armv is there 
to obey the orders of the civil power under the law as it stands, wit lioiit looking 
to the riglit or the left. And it will be an evil day for this Republic when we 
inspire the generals of oiu- army with the ambition to secure the higliest power 
by pavin? their way to it with political pronunciamentos. I will not impute to 
General Hancock any such design. He may have r.icant ever so well wlien ho 
issued General Order No. 40, which is now held up by a political i)arty as his 
principal title to the Presidency. But you once establish such a precedent, and 
who knows how long it will be bcf<n-e you hear of other general orders issued 
for purposes somewhat similar to those for v.hich they are now issued in Mex- 
ico V I am for the subordination of the military to the civil jiower. And there- 
fore I am for making Congiessman (Jarfi(>ld President, and for letting General 
Hancock remain wluit he is. a general, always ready to draw the soldier's 
sword at the lawful conniiand of tlie civil power. 

What have we on the other hand in the Republican candidate V His youth 
was that of a poor boy. He lived by his daily labor. He rose up from that es- 
tate giMdually by his own effort, taking with him the experience of poverty and 
hard work and a living sympathy with the pom- and h.-^rd working man." He 
cultivated his mind by diligent study and he stored it with useful knowledge. 
From a learner he became a teacher." When the Republic called her sons to her 
defense he joined the army and achieved distinction in active .service as one 
of the brave on the battle-field. He w;ls called into the great council of the 




16 

013 789 

nation, and has sat there for nearly twenty year.^. 

cn.>?sed without his contributing "tlie store" of his kuowlc. ;_..,> lue tuiul of 
information necessary for wise decision. His speeches have ranked not only 
anions the most eloquent, but among the most instructive and useful. .Scarcely 
a single .ureat measure of legislation was passed during that long period without 
the imprint (jf liis mind. Xo man in Congress has devoted more thorough in- 
quiry to a larger number of imj)ortant subjects and formed upon them opinions 
more matured and valuable. He was not as great a soldier as his competitor for 
the Presidency, but he lias made himself, and is universally recognized as, 
what a President ought to be. a statesman. He understands all phases of life, 
from the lowest to the highest, for he has lived through them. He understands 
the great problems of politics, for he has studied them and actively participated 
in their discussion and solution. Few men in this country would enter the 
Presidential oilk-e with its great duties and responsibilities better or even as 
well efiuii)ped with knowledge and experience. He need only be true to his 
reconl in order to become a wise, safe, and successful President. If the people 
elect him it will be only because his services rendered in the past are just of 
that nature which will give assurance of his ability to render greater service in 
the future. The country wants a statesman of ability, knowledge, experience, 
and principle at tlie head of affairs. His conduct as' a legislator gives ample 
guarantee of great promise in all these things. 

In a few months you will have to make your choice. I know that when a 
party has been so long in power as the Republican party, many citizens may be 
moved by a desire for a change. In not a few cases it may be a desire for the 
sake of a change. "While tiie impulse is natural, it should not be followed with- 
out calm discrimination. Prudent men will never fail to consider whether 
the only change possible bids fair to be a change for the better. It is true that 
parties are apt to degenerate by the long possession of power. The Republican 
party cannot expect to escape the common lot of humanity ; but no candid ob- 
server will deny that within a late period the R?publican party has shown signs 
ratlier of improvement than deterioration ; and that it possesses the best share 
of the intelligence, virtue and patriotism of the country. In matters of most 
essential moment to the public welfare it can be safely better counted upon for 
efficient and faithful service, while its opponent opens only a prospect of un- 
certainty and confusion. 

The Democracy may in the course of time gain the confidence of the people; 
l)Ut that should Ije only when the repudiationists and the advocates of unsound 
money have ceased to be in its ranks so powerful and iniluenlial an element as 
seriously to threaten the great economical interests of the country ; when by 
energetic and successful action in protecting the rigiits of the voter whether 
white or black, whether Republican or Democratic, ili all parts of the country, 
and by the suppression of fraud at the l)allot-l)0x through a healthy and irre- 
sistible power of public opinion within itself, it will have won the right to ap- 
pear in its platforms as the protector of the freedom and purity of elections, 
and when it will lind it no longer necessary to discard the anlest of its states- 
men and to put a general of theArmy, whohas never been anything but a soldier, 
in nomination lor the Presidency, to make for itself a certiUcate of loyalty to 
the settlements of the great conilict of the past. 

And for all these reasons, in my opinion, the interests of the Republic de- 
maud the election of James A. Garfield to the Presideucv of the L'nited States. 



iHl 

013 789 884 6 9 



peRnulrfe* 
pH8^ 



